Cleansing apparatus



July 29, 1930. GUETT 1,771,436

CLEANS ING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 16, 1923 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS PatentedJuly 29, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MONROE GUETT, OF HARTFORD,CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE ARROW- HART 6t HEGEMAN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OFHARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT CLEANSING APPARATUSApplication filed November 16, 1923.

The invention provides a convenient, rapid and very effective means fortreating or cleansing small manufactured parts such as screws, bolts andthe products of automatic parts-making machinery, and more particularlyfor removing from such articles the oil which was applied to them in thecourse of their machine manufacture.

In the accompanying drawing the principle of the invention isillustrated in its preferred form in vertical central section.

The main tank 1 is intended to be set on the floor or in a low positionand contains a cleansing or other liquid which may be water containingany suitable detergent, usually an alkali, or any desired chemicalreagent. It is conveniently of cylindrical form, somewhat higher than"wide, and provided with an over flow pipe to carry off excess liquidand particularly the soapy material that is formed by the action of thealkali on the oil. The articles to be cleaned or treated are placed in abucket-like receptacle 2 having a foraminous or perforate bottom wall,or lower part, and a bail handle by means of which it may be carriedabout by the workman and inserted in and removed from the cleansingtank. This receptacle is preferably also cylindrical and of greaterheight than diameter and its cylindrical side wall is preferablyimpel-f0- rate, and its upper end is open. Within the scope of theinvention, this receptacle may be supported in the liquid tank 1 in anysuitable way so as to be subject to the action of the cleansing liquidwhich is caused to flow or circulate with appropriate agitation, throughthe mass of articles in the receptacle, overflowing from the open top ofthe latter and passing back in the tank around the exterior of thereceptacle. Its upper end, when seated in the tank, is above the levelof the tank liquid. Preferably, but not necessarily, the seat for thereceptacle is located in the lower part of the tank, being normallysubmerged by the tank liquid and, preferably also it is situated on orforms part of the means whereby the flow is produced.

Thus the preferred organization comprises a member which may be acasting, placed on or secured to or near, the bottom of the tank.

Serial No. 675,136.

A portion of the upper part of this member forms the seat referred to,which is marked 3, and is adapted to form a substantially closed jointwith the bottom of the receptacle 2 when the latter is placed thereon,that is to say, a joint which prevents undue liquid flow through it.Around this seat surface there is an upstanding wall or rim, the purposeof which is to guide the article-holding receptacle to its position onthe seat, wherein it will be concentric with the tank. Preferablysuchwall is formed as a cylindrical or tubular, imperforate sleeve 4 setin or fastened to the seat member and extending up to near the level ofthe cleansing liquid or above it. The article-holding receptacle 2 canbe accurately and easily introduced and lowered through this sleeve intocorrect position on the seat 3' and the sleeve affords the furtheradvantage that heat imparted to the interior of the receptacle will bethereby retarded in its escape to the surrounding liquid in the tank.

The center of the receptacle-support and joint-forming member isprovided with, or shaped as, an ejector tube 5 and a steam jet nozzle 6is axially located therein and preferably fixed and supported thereon asindicated. This nozzle is supplied with steam or an equivalent pressurefluid through a pipe controlled by a shut-off valve 7, which latter isdesirably situated on or near the fioor and arranged to befoot-operated.

When the article-holding receptacle has been placed on the seat 3, theoperator opens the valve 7 the resulting steam jet creates an upwardvigorous flow of the cleansing liquid which has no escape except throughthe receptacle and the articles therein. This flow becomes a circulationof liquid as soon as the liquid overflows the receptacle and passes backalong the outside of the receptacle and sleeve and between the legmembers of the support to the entrance end of the,

ejector tube. Such flow or circulation is preferably upwards through thearticles and downward in the space around them as above stated, althoughthis direction is subject to reversal if desired, and, furthermore, anapproximation to the results of this invention may be secured if thecirculation is entirely When a steam jet is employed'as the liquidmoving a ent, the flow is intermittent, as the steam as the effect ofproducing a surging of the liquid into or through the mass of screws orother articles in the receptacle and this surging effect is found mosteffective in saponifying the oil and removing the dirt. The steam alsoquickly heats the cleansing 3 liquid and the articles, which of coursefacilitates the cleansing action as well as the subsequent drying of thearticles after the have been lifted out of the tank. Heat directlyapplied in this way is effective and economical. The gradualaccumulation of water of condensation from the steam serves the usefulpurpose of keeping the liquid level at the point established by theoverflow outlet and of carrying off, through that outlet, the soapymaterial which rises to the surface with the dirt entrained in it, thuskeeping the cleansing liquid at all times clean and ready for use, noattention to it being required except for the occasional addition ofmore alkali to compensate for the gradual dilution. The use of the steamjet is preferred for these reasons. With any flow-producing means,however, the flow through the receptacle, and into the tank spacesurrounding.

it, carries off the removed oil and dirt, into the latter so that whenthe flow is stopped none of the soa y scum is left in the receptacle, ontop 0 the articles and no rinsing is required and the articles may betherefore immediately dumped into the bin for distribution and use asrequired. This is the effect of the elevation of the open receptacle topabove the normal liquid level and of the provision for the circulationof the liquid upwardly through the articles and downwardly outside ofthe receptacle, as will now be evident. Inasmuch as the dirt tends tofloat, the submerged ejector device acts to. move only relatively cleanliquid, taken from the bottom of the tanks, through the articles.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a tank for liquid, amember secured in the tank forming a seat and ejector tube, and aremovable article-holding receptacle adapted to engage the seatintercepting the liquid flow from said ejector tube.

2. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a liquid tank, a seatbelow the liquid level, guiding means adjacent the seat and spaced fromthe tank walls, an article-holding receptacle adapted to be guided bysaid means to a position wherein it forms a joint with the 'seat andmeans for causing circulating flow of the tank liquid in one directionthrough the articles in the receptacle and in the return directionbetween the guiding means and tank walls.

3. Apparatus of the kind described comprisin a liquid tank havinoverflow means, an article-holding receptac e therein having aperforate'lower part and having its top above the liquid leveldetermined by said means, and means for moving the liquid u wardlythrough the receptacle out of tiie upper end of the same and into thetank space ad acent the overflow means.

4. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a liquid container, anopentopped article holding receptacle having a retlculated bottom andcommunicating adjacent its upper and lower ends with the containerrespectively above and below the liquid level therein, and a pressurefluid jet adapted to cause a surging flow of the liquid upwardly throughthe receptacle into the container.

5. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a liquid container, aparts holdin receptacle adapted to be removably located within saidcontainer and having a reticulate bottom means for supportin said bottombeneath the liquid level in sai container and spaced above the bottomthereof, and an upwardly directed fluid pressure nozzle mounted in saidcontainer directly below said reticulate bottom and adapted to cause asurging flow of the liquid upwardly through the receptacle into thecontainer.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

MONROE GUETT.

